Dr. Paul Daugherty, a Hendersonville internist, has created a buzz with his side business/hobby: beekeeping.

When a patient approaches the receptionist’s window at Daugherty’s Imperial Boulevard clinic, on the ledge are small, honey-filled bottles with a label that reads Dr. D’s Bees.

Daugherty has been a beekeeper for two years. When his father, Paul Daugherty Sr., died in 2012, he inherited the “bee business.”

“My son Eric talked me into keeping the beehives,” Daugherty said. “I probably would have never done it without my grandson Kaj encouraging me. He said he wanted to help me and learn how to do things.”

Daugherty cares for five bee hives in Joelton, each containing one queen and around 60,000 bees. He said that an average worker bee makes only 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime.

“Worker bees work themselves to death in the summertime,” Daugherty said.

He said that beekeepers must always leave enough honey for the bees to consume over the winter. Some workers live in the hive until they can began gathering nectar and pollen in the next growing season.

Bee populations have been rapidly declining over the last decade, which makes backyard hives like Daugherty’s all the more important.

“One third of food producing plants need to be pollinated,” Daugherty said. “Without pollination, many fruits and vegetables wouldn’t exist.”

Dr. D’s honey is considered raw honey. Besides a simple straining, Daugherty does not do any processing to his honey.

His wife, Veronica Daugherty, shares the belief that local honey will help with allergies.

“If you buy honey from the store, you have no idea where that comes from,” she said. “If you eat local honey, it helps your system build up tolerance for local allergens.”

Outside of harvesting the honey, the beehives don’t require a lot of work, Daugherty said.

“It doesn’t take any more time during the week as a round of golf,” he said.